PM's Self Reliance Tools: The China Threat: Blocking the USA out of World Trade

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Blocking the USA out of World Trade

The global economy is being reoriented—away from the United States. [Our ongoing series that exposes the true intentions of China-to dominate the world while dumping the United States]

BY JEREMIAH JACQUES

Acolossal Eurasian supercontinent is forming. From Tokyo to Lisbon, groups of Asian and European nations are hammering out history-altering trade deals and building billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure to better bind themselves together.

With the ideological lines that divided East and West during the Cold War fading away, the links between Asia and Europe are solidifying at hypersonic speed. Latin America, too, is being drawn deeper into the Eurasian orbit.

All of these trends, deals and projects have one common denominator: The United States is excluded.

And this is all happening in fulfillment of specific end-time biblical prophecies.

Rebuilding the Ancient Silk Road

China has taken the lead in working to integrate Eurasia. It is accomplishing this largely with the Belt and Road Initiative (bri), the brainchild and foremost national priority of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The project was enshrined into the Chinese Constitution in 2017 as part of Xi’s “Chinese Dream.” It aims to rebuild the ancient “Silk Road” network of routes that facilitated the flow of goods and ideas across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Xi has been working to convince nations in those regions to cooperate with China to build roads, rail networks, bridges, ports, pipelines and Internet systems to rebuild and greatly expand those ancient routes. If the Belt and Road Initiative comes together as planned, its infrastructure will connect more than 60 percent of the global population and about 36 percent of total global gross domestic product—to China. And it is all for the purpose of reshaping the international system to place China at the center.

Many countries, especially in poorer parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, immediately signed on. They calculated that accepting Chinese loans and granting China the right to build road, rail and port infrastructure might be risky, but the benefits to their economies would be worth it.

But in Europe, most nations were skeptical. They worried about China’s human rights abuses and deceitful trade practices, including its tendency to steal the intellectual property of foreign investors. Europeans also feared China’s debt trap diplomacy, by which it uses loans to gain leverage over borrowing countries and force them to make concessions they would never make otherwise. They worried about how the expansion of Chinese interests globally sometimes precedes the expansion of Chinese military assets and deployments.

On top of all that, Europe’s historical postwar alignment has been toward the United States. And American leaders view the bri as a dangerous drive for Chinese global hegemony, and often encourage nations in Europe and elsewhere to shun it. These factors combined to darken EU countries’ view of the initiative, and to initially dissuade them from integrating more deeply with China.

But over the years, especially as Europe’s anti-American sentiments grew stronger, some of the less powerful, mostly southern European nations rejected U.S. warnings and joined the Chinese project. And in March a major European power made the extremely significant decision to follow suit.

When in Rome

Italy normally reserves its most lavish welcomes only for close allies. But on March 21, it hosted Xi for a state visit in Rome, including an elaborate, red-carpet reception, state dinner and private concert by an opera megastar. But the highlight of the visit for Xi was Italy’s signing up to the Belt and Road Initiative.

“Xi Jinping’s dream,” Business Insider wrote after the signing, “just claimed one of its biggest victories yet.”

The victory was enormous, not just because Chinese ships will be able to easily unload cargo at Italy’s choicest ports, but also because Italy is a member of the G-7. This group of democratically governed, advanced economies also includes Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The G-7 are powerful nations that help shape global policy. Now that one is on the list of Belt and Road participants, other European nations are seriously considering joining.

Quartz noted that Italy’s move was partly motivated by its desire to break with traditional partners, including the U.S., which has been its ally since the founding of nato 70 years ago. “[An] endorsement for bri … can signal the likelihood of a country breaking ranks with traditional allies to side with China over politically charged themes,” it wrote (March 19).

Italy’s “signal” of anti-Americanism is sobering. And European, Asian and African countries are not the only ones demonstrating that they are eager to side with China. Alarmingly, it is also happening with more and more countries in the U.S.’s periphery.

Crashing America’s Neighborhood

The Belt and Road infrastructure development initially concentrated on Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, the same regions that were linked by the ancient Silk Road. But in 2017, Xi said he views Latin America as a “natural extension” of the project and invited nations there to join. Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Panama, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago have already signed on. More Latin American and Caribbean nations are preparing to follow.

Chinese money has already built a port in Trinidad and Tobago, railways in Argentina, and roads in Costa Rica and Jamaica. As China persuades more Latin American and Caribbean nations to join the project, this region, which is vital to U.S. security, will become increasingly aligned with Beijing and its partners.

And the Belt and Road Initiative is just one of many ways that China and its anti-American partners are deepening their influence in Latin America.

In the case of China’s closest comrade, Russia, the influence is becoming overtly militaristic. In recent months, Russia has modernized Nicaragua’s military, loaned Cuba $43 million for military gear, and said it may build a base there. In Venezuela, Russia has sent soldiers and military gear to prop up the regime of failed dictator Nicolás Maduro, and Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta has reported that Moscow may build a permanent military base there.

Given the proximity of these Latin American nations to the U.S. and to the Caribbean shipping lanes that the U.S. economy depends on, the deepening influence of Russia and China there should be red flags to U.S. policymakers.

The World Is Banking on China

On Jan. 16, 2016, while inaugurating China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Xi told the assembled dignitaries they were witnessing “a historical moment.”

The bank was established mainly to support Belt and Road projects and to advance China’s broader goal of asserting leadership on the world stage. The bank offers nations an alternative to the post-World War ii U.S.-dominated institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is another economic weapon for China to openly challenge American leadership.

Despite U.S. pressure, several of America’s Asian allies and partners joined China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, including the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Several of America’s closest allies outside of Asia—Britain, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and France—also joined.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers wrote in the lead-up to the Bank’s inauguration: “[T]his … may be remembered as the moment the United States lost its role as the underwriter of the global economic system.” Summers also stated that America’s failure to persuade allies to stay out of the Chinese initiative is a “wake-up call.”

Luxembourg’s finance minister said in 2016 that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is “further proof of the rebalancing of the world economy.”

Trade Blocs Blocking Out the U.S.

“[G]overnments have proven eager to move forward with trade negotiations as a way to counter some of the uncertainty in the global trading system today,” John Murphy, senior vice president for international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told usa Todaylast November.

As a result of this push, major new trade blocs are emerging around the globe.

The European Union has been especially aggressive. In recent years, it has signed new agreements with Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ukraine and South Korea. In December, Europe announced two deals with Japan: the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement and EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. The latter integrates 635 million people and one third of the world’s gdp, making it the largest trade bloc on the planet. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the deal brings EU-Japan trade and political ties “to a whole new level.”

On April 9, the EU hailed a “breakthrough” in its push for a trade agreement with China. The two sides agreed to dramatically boost their trade volumes, broaden market access, work together on World Trade Organization reform, and for China not to force EU companies operating there into divulging sensitive knowledge. “It is a breakthrough,” said European Council President Donald Tusk. “For the first time, China has agreed to engage with Europe on this key priority for wto reform.”

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said of the deals: “Not only will this be conducive to China’s reform and opening up, but also Europe’s unity and prosperity.”

China also recently signed a free-trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. This group includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in April that the bloc’s goal—facilitating the free movement of goods, labor and capital in the region—perfectly aligns with the aims of the Belt and Road Initiative. Putin said the Eurasian Economic Union member countries “unanimously supported the idea of linking the construction of the Eurasian Economic Community” and the Belt and Road.

Meanwhile, in December, the Japan-led Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership came into effect. This deal includes Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Chile, Peru and Malaysia. The 500 million people living in these nations, constituting 13.4 percent of the global economy, can now trade nearly tariff-free.

And all the while, the EU has been frantically working toward a landmark free-trade deal with the Latin American trade bloc mercosur, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. “This trade agreement will impact the whole world!” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote of the EU-mercosur deal in our March issue.

These agreements are fundamentally altering the world economy. And they all have one thing in common: They exclude the U.S.

In the case of some of the agreements, America chose not to participate. Nevertheless, the trend is undeniable: More and more nations are forging massive economic alliances—and America is out.

Many of these history-altering trade deals have been under negotiation for years. And now they are suddenly becoming reality. “Analysts attribute that to the Trump administration’s policies,” (usa Today, op cit). In reality, the anti-American sentiments that helped shape these trade deals predate the Trump administration, but his leadership has intensified such feelings and made more world leaders feel urgent about acting on them.

The Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the multiplying number of U.S.-excluding trade blocs are reorienting the world economy—to the detriment of the United States.

China’s rising power and the increasing number of trade blocs that exclude the U.S. are shifting global power away from “Israel” and toward these non-Israelite nations. Prophecy shows that as this shift continues, cooperation between China, Europe and several other Gentile nations will be consolidated and take a sharply anti-American turn.

The situation will morph into a European subjugation of Latin America, “The Latin American countries will become vassal states to Europe!”

With this level of control in Latin America, the European and Asian powers will be geographically situated to lay siege to the United States. “With a German-led Europe … possessing great maritime power, North America will be surrounded on the east by Europe and the south by Latin America” (ibid).

At first I had no idea why President Trump talked so much about sovereignty. I’ve changed my mind. To be more precise, Xi Jinping changed it. Mr. Trump is the only thing that stands between us and a world dominated by China. –Sen. M Rubio/WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/xi-changed-my-mind-about-trump-11564008053